CAD MANAGER CENTER

The Value of DWG in Multi-CAD Environments

How much value do you place in your DWG files?AutoCAD Productivity Analysis, a report produced by Jon Peddie Research (JPR) and commissioned by Autodesk®, explores the issues with, and quantifies the impact of, using DWG™ files in multi-CAD environments.

According to the study, most CAD operations rely on DWGs and multiple CAD systems. The “average” CAD user works in 2.3 CAD programs. Ninety-five percent of CAD users work with DWG files, including 68 percent of those using non-Autodesk programs; 45 percent consider DWG their primary format, and only 5.6 percent never work in DWG.

Survey respondents place a high value on their DWG files, in part because of the amount of time and effort that goes into them. Forty percent value a completed DWG file at $28,400. Nearly one-third spend more than 40 percent of their time creating DWG files, and 76 percent spend one to three months on projects requiring DWG formats.

AutoCAD TrustedDWG™ technology identifies DWG files that were not last saved by AutoCAD. CAD users commonly receive corrupted DWG files from non-Autodesk CAD programs; dealing with such corrupted files drains time and productivity.

For example, when AutoCAD users share DWG files with other companies—which 75 percent of them do—they get damaged DWGs in return nearly one-third of the time. Forty-three percent of all respondents receive corrupt DWG files created by non-AutoCAD products (from internal and external sources). On average, respondents spend an hour repairing each corrupt DWG file.

The study surveyed 2,374 respondents. Eighty-six percent are in North America; 77 percent have 10+ years’ CAD experience; almost two-thirds work in design and engineering.